If it's a first person shooter all it accounts for is a girly grunt every time you jump along with nice smooth hands with a manicure holding the gun... if it's 3rd person, breast/ass physics and or /nudity.

Like Jagger said, half of the chosen list dont have their own games. Also the first choice's game doesnt even have her game out yet. Btw, OPM, for a PS supportive site, kinda strange that you ignored Aveline from AC Liberation and Kat from Gravity Rush.

Nobody said they didn't sell. The original quote was that games with the main character being male sell much better than when the main character is female. They still sell, just not as much. But why use intelligence when you can just spout off like a bunch of retards frothing at the mouth based on an inaccurate title?

Female characters do sell games if the story and the gameplay are there. A strong female character in a game I'll buy it. If the lead female chracter is a dumb blond with big boobs that bounce when she jumps and she talks with hald a brain. Im not into those games I find those games really stupid and annoying. Surprised Parasite Eve was not on that list I found Aya Brea to be a very good character in the game. I thaught the female counter part Trip was a very good character in Enslaved.

Hmm.... some of these characters are support characters rather than main characters. Plus, it's funny that you would have to point this out IMO, I don't think most people would say that a game with a female character would never be a seller, it's just the gaming world tends to be very male centered right now. I'm sure that will change in time.

Good article tho, just doesn't really address the nuance of the issue of gender in video games fully.

The recent news about female characters being shunned by publishers isn't a surprise because they think gamers are complete idiotic frat boys who can't appreciate good characters of any sex and well thought out complex plots.

They are in the same camp of producers that think every film needs to have an underlying love plot, lots of quick flash "cool" action shots to sell.

Unfortunately, that's nothing compared to the hundreds of male lead characters that sell (or used to sell). Besides, many the female names listed were supporting-cast NPC's and some fighting-game characters.